Half a Century eBook

“Young man! stay where you are! Your friend
must be too ill to do without you. I will see
the young lady to her quarters. The vidette is
on the corner, and we do not need you!”

We came away filled with wonder, but we did not for
some time realize the danger. We came to know
that Miss Dix’s caution was not altogether unwise;
that women had been led into traps of this kind, when
it would have been well for them had they died there,
and when duty to themselves and the public required
them to get one or more doctors ready for dissection.
After that lesson, however, I did not fear to leave
Georgie, who remained with the army, doing grand work,
until Richmond fell, but laying the foundation of
that consumption, of which she died.

Of all the lives which the Rebellion cost us, none
was more pure, more noble, than that of this beautiful,
refined, strong, gentle girl.

CHAPTER LXXI.

“NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP.”

The Sanitary Commission soon got a supply of clothing,
and sent two men to wash and dress my patients.
These, with the one sweeping floors with branches,
were an incalculable help and comfort; but these two
did their work and passed on to other places.
One of the men they had dressed grew weak, and I was
at a loss to account for his symptoms, until by close
questioning, I drew from him the answer,

“It is my other wound!”

These words sounded like a death-knell, but I insisted
on seeing the other wound, and found four bullet holes
under his new clothes. From the one wound, for
which I had been caring, he might easily recover; but
with four more so distributed that he must lie on one,
and no surgeon to make trap doors, no bed—­there
was no hope. He was so bright, so good, so intelligent,
so courageous, it was hard to give him up. Ah,
if I had him in Campbell, with Dr. Kelly to use the
knife! How my heart clung to him!

He lay near the center of the room, with his head
close to a column; and one night as I knelt giving
him drink, and arranging his knapsack and brick pillow,
making the most of his two blankets, and thinking of
his mother at home, I was suddenly impressed by the
beauty and grandeur of his face;—­his broad,
white brow shaded by bushy, chestnut hair, half curling;
the delicate oval of his cheeks; the large, expressive
grey eyes; the straight nose and firm chin and lips!—­he
could not have been more than twenty-two, almost six
feet high, with a frame full of vigor. How many
such men were there in this land? How many could
we afford to sacrifice in order to preserve a country
for the use of cowards and traitors, and other inferior
types of the race?

The feeble light of my candle threw this picture into
strong relief against the surrounding gloom, and it
was harder than ever to give him up, but this must
be done; and I wanted to extract from that bitter cup
one drop of sweetness for his mother; so I said to
him: